What is the European Union, a roach motel where you check in
but never check out as you are eaten from the inside out? Or is it the Hotel California, an American
Horror Story Hotel populated by insatiable vampires that slash open your
arteries, sucks out your blood and the marrow from your bones and leaves the
remains to turn to dust?
The rape and murder of European Union member Greece, through
the EU currency called the Euro has been labeled by Nobel Prize winning
economist, Paul Krugman as a Roach Motel.
From New York Times:
Excerpt:
So we have learned that the euro is
a Roach Motel — once you go in, you can never get out. And once inside you are
at the mercy of those who can pull your financing and crash your banking system
unless you toe the line…
Debtors are forced into draconian austerity, while creditors face
no pressure to reflate; economic crisis, which should be met with expansionary
policy, instead leads to contraction because of this asymmetry….
Then “internal devaluation” requires sacrificing around 100 percent of
a year’s GDP. Let’s repeat that: given what
we now know about the rules of the game, countries as overvalued as much of
the European periphery became thanks to the lending boom are supposed to sacrifice a full year’s economic output as part of a
process of beating prices and wages down.
So Krugman believes the European Union and the Eurozone are a
Roach Motel. Members are forced into
draconian austerity that worsens the financial stability, then the country must
borrow from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) with repayment terms that
require opening their agriculture to Monsanto and liquidating their assets.
Sounds less like a Roach Motel and more like American Horror
Story Hotel populated by insatiable vampires who feed off humanity. But the brave people of Greece rejected the
IMF bailout and voted against continued austerity to bring the Syriza Party to
power. Alexis Tsipras promised the Greek
People that he would fight for them and they responded. But alas, Tsipras is just another vampire
serving his IMF master. From The Guardian:
Excerpt:
Yanis Varoufakis brands Alexis Tsipras the ‘new De Gaulle’ as election
gets ugly
Breaking the wary truce since his
surprise resignation the day after
Greeks voted to reject austerity in a referendum last month, Varoufakis has
lashed out at the leftwing leader’s policy choices, saying in an interview in the New Review that Tsipras had decided “to
surrender” to the punitive demands of international creditors keeping Athens
afloat.
Instead of remaining faithful to the anti-austerity platform on
which his radical left Syriza party had been elected, the young prime minister
had allowed his ego to get the better of him and made a conscious decision to
become the “new De Gaulle, or Mitterrand more likely”….
“Tsipras made a decision on that night of the
referendum not only to surrender to the troika but also to implement the terms
of surrender ….
As a result, Syriza once the hope
of Europe’s anti-austerity movement, had not
only betrayed the cause but mutated into the very thing it had set out not to
be…
In July 62% of Greeks, at the behest of Tsipras, voted to reject
policies that have been blamed for the nation’s extraordinary loss of GDP
and economic depression in recent years
Just like Krugman said, the EU’s “internal devaluation”
requires sacrificing around 100 percent of a year’s GDP, and that is what the
people of Greece voted against. And what
did Tsipras give them in return? From
World Socialist Web Site:
Excerpt:
The Syriza government is working closely with the EU to eliminate
fundamental social rights won by the European working class in the 20th
century. After the EU and the Greek government agreed in 2011 to eliminate universal health care, by requiring the unemployed to pay for their
own care, Syriza is preparing what amounts to the liquidation of the right to a publicly funded retirement.
Pensions are to be cut by increasing penalties on early retirement,
and by imposing a further 20 percent cut
in the minimum pension for new retirees, which will be reduced from €486 to
€392 per month….
And that was just the beginning for the people of
Greece. The insatiable vampires in the
EU’s Hotel California were just getting warmed up. From Global Research:
Excerpt:
Multinational Vultures Cluster Round Greece: Airports, Ports, Tourist
Resorts, Energy Assets and Utilities
The sentence of privatisation,
which Britain has found inefficient and expensive in most cases, has been
passed on Greece.
On July 12, the summit of eurozone leaders dictated terms to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who
accepted all, including the sale of Greece’s remaining public assets.
Business Insider reports that Eurozone leaders demanded that Greek public
assets be transferred to an independent fund renamed the Hellenic Republic
Asset Development Fund (HRADF), to help to make the scheduled repayment of the
new loan and recapitalization of banks and other assets. The fund was set
up in July 2011 after the Greek sovereign debt crisis and opposed by Syriza,
which suspended most planned privatisations when it came to power.
Ben Chu (the Independent) reports
that Germany originally proposed that
HRADF be run from Luxembourg by a German state bank, prompting accusations
on social media of a German “coup”.
‘Big-ticket items’ listed on the
HRADF’s website for interested buyers
·
athens airport
·
state lottery,
·
horse-betting,
·
Olympic venues,
·
Athens
International Airport,
·
37 regional airports,
·
Port of
Piraeus and 100% of the shares of 11 other ports,
·
many marinas,
·
tourist resorts,
·
state
real estate especially on picture-perfect islands,
·
thermal springs on the mainland,
·
hotels
with high historical and cultural value in privileged locations,
·
Greek real estate holdings in New York,
Washington and Belgrade
·
And the Public
Power Corporation S.A., which provides energy to four-fifths of the
country’s population.
Other companies which may be sold
include a natural gas importer and distributor, three oil refineries, Athens
water company, the postal provider, ELTA, more than 400 miles of roads,
TRAINOSE (railroad and bus transport) and ROSCO which maintains Greek trains.
Ben Chu adds that the IMF estimates Greece’s saleable state
assets were worth around half the sum needed and that the proceeds from
future privatisations are likely to be only €500m a year: “At that rate the €50bn would not be reached for 100
years”.
Maybe the Greek people should take any money they have out
of the banks and hide it in their mattresses for safety. Wait, what’s this? From Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge:
Excerpt:
Greeks Told To Declare Cash "Under The Mattress", Jewelry And
Precious Stones
When earlier today we read a report
in the Greek Enikonomia, according to which Greek taxpayers would be forced to
declare all cash "under the mattress" (including inside) or boxes
that contain more than 15,000 euros as well as jewelry and precious stones (including
gold) worth over 30,000 euros, starting in 2016, we assumed this has to be some
early April fools joke or a mistake….
It was not a joke.
Here is the take of Keep Talking
Greece, whose stunned response mirrors ours.
Cash "under the mattress"
totaling more than 15,000 euro, jewelry and other valuable items such as
diamonds and gemstones, should be declared to electronic system of tax
authorities, Taxisnet, as of 1 January 2016. Next to properties and vehicles and shares, now the taxpayers will also
have to declare their deposits. And not only that. They will have to fill if they rent bank lockers and if yes, also
the name of the bank and the branch, even if abroad.
Jeebus, do they have to declare any gold in their
teeth? And speaking of humanity, what
was the toll on the human population of Greece by the “Christian” nations of the
EU? From U.K. Mirror:
Excerpt:
Greek women forced into prostitution for 'the cost of a sandwich'
because of country's debt crisis
A new report reveals women are selling
sex for as little as €2 with others doing it 'just for a cheese pie or a
sandwich because they are hungry.
Women in Greece are being forced to
sell their bodies for sex for as little as the cost of a sandwich because of
the country's crippling debt crisis…
Report author Gregory Lazos of
Panteion University in Athens said there are now around 18,500 sex workers in
Greece.
Professor Lazos told The Times:
"Some women just do it for a cheese pie, or a sandwich they need to eat
because they are hungry.
And Greece is not some outlier, an anomaly. There’s plenty of room at the EU’s Hotel
California because once the vampires drain one country there is a vacancy at
the Inn. Enter Portugal: From Paul CraigRoberts:
Excerpt:
New Socialist Government Keeps Portuguese People Under The Whip– Paul
Craig Roberts
The austerity imposed on the Portuguese people by the One Percent
has resulted in the election of a coalition government of socialists,
communists, and a “left bloc.” In the
20th century, socialism and the fear of communism humanized Europe, but beginning with Margaret Thatcher the
achievements of decades of social reforms have been rolled back throughout
Europe as bought-and-paid for governments have given all preference to the
One Percent.
Public assets are being privatized, and social pensions and services
are being reduced in order to make interest payments to private banks.
When the recent Portuguese vote gave a majority to the anti-austerity
bloc, the right-wing Portuguese president, Anibal Cavaco Silva, a creature
of Washington and the big banks, announced
that the leftwing would not be permitted to form a government, just as the senior British general
announced that a Labour Government formed by Jeremy Corbyn would not be
permitted to form.
True to her word, Anibal reappointed
the austerity prime minister, Passos Coelho. However, the unity of the
socialists with the communists and the left bloc swept Coelho from office and
the president had to recognize a new government.
The new government means that for the first in a long time there is a
government in Portugual that possibly could represent the people rather than
Washington and the One Percent.
However, if the new government leaves the banks in charge and remains committed to the EU, the
current president, previous prime minister, and previous finance minister,
Maria Luis Albuquerque, will continue to
work to overthrow the people’s will as occurred in Greece…
The new Portuguese government cannot escape austerity without
nationalizing the banks and leaving the EU. The failure of the Greek
government to bite the bullet resulted in the Greek government’s acceptance of
the austerity that it was elected to oppose….
According to the Financial Times, representatives of the new socialist
government have given reassurance that the new government will not abandon the
austerity policies. Mario Centeno declared: “It’s not the direction we
challenge, but the speed of travel.”
CENTENO IS A HARVARD-TRAINED NEOLIBERAL ECONOMIST. He told the
Financial Times that the new government
was committed to remaining in the EU and would continue with the austerity
program….
Another European Union success story, success for the
bankers that is. And the people of
Britain want out of the EU Hotel California, they said so in their recent
election. From The Telegraph:
Excerpt:
Jeremy Corbyn is new Labour leader with stunning 60 per cent of votes
in first round
• Jeremy Corbyn has won the Labour
leadership contest with almost 60 per cent in the first round of voting. The
landslide victory saw him take 251,000 of the total 422,000 votes cast. He won
the most support from members, registered supporters and affiliated members
alike.
• In his victory speech, Mr Corbyn
said: "During these amazing three months, our party has changed. We have
grown enormously, because of the hopes of so many ordinary people for a
different Britain, a better Britain, a more equal Britain, a more decent
Britain. They are fed up with the inequality, the injustice, the unnecessary
poverty. All those issues have brought people in in a spirit of hope and
optimism…."
• He reasserted his message that
Britain does not need nuclear weapons – ahead of a plan to persuade his party
to back his controversial stance.
• Thousands of people packed out
Parliament Square for a pro-refugee rally at which Jeremy Corbyn received
ecstatic screams and cheers as he defiantly proclaimed: "We are all
humans. We must spend our resources on helping people, not hindering people.
None of this is easy. But surely we have
the principle that we are all human beings on the same planet and we all want
the next generation to be better off than we are."
Oh, happy days are here again. The British people are going to end this
horrible age of militarization at the expense of their health, welfare and
wealth. The people have spoken loud and
clear. But, what’s this? The British military is threatening a
military coup if Corbyn becomes Prime Minister?
From The Daily Mail:
Excerpt:
'We won't stand for it': Army top brass warn there will be a MUTINY if
Jeremy Corbyn becomes Prime Minister
·
Serving general predicts mass resignations if
Labour wins the next election
·
He said the arm would be forced to take 'direct
action' against Mr Corbyn
·
Labour leader has publicly called for abolition
of armed forces and Trident
·
However, he
faces a shadow cabinet rebellion over his radical proposals
What, Corbyn faces a shadow cabinet
rebellion? Are you saying the British
have a separate government that supersedes the elected government? Are you saying there’s a government in Britain
where the One Percent have representation without taxation, and a government
elected by people who have taxation without representation? Looks like we are through the looking
glass. Oh yeah, vampires can’t be seen
in the looking glass.
The senior serving general, speaking anonymously to the Sunday
Times, said Mr Corbyn's victory has been
greeted with 'wholesale dismay' in the army.
He added: 'There would be mass
resignations at all levels and you would face the very real prospect of an
event which would effectively be a mutiny.
'Feelings are running very high
within the armed forces. You would see a
major break in convention with
senior generals directly and publicly challenging Corbyn over vital important
policy decisions such as Trident, pulling out of Nato and any plans to emasculate and shrink the size
of the armed forces.
'The Army just wouldn't stand for it. The general staff would not
allow a prime minister to jeopardise the security of this country and I think people would use whatever means
possible, fair or foul to prevent that. You can't put a maverick in charge
of a country's security.'
The general, who served in Northern Ireland in the 1980s and 1990s,
said many soldiers were sickened by Mr
Corbyn's admiration for the IRA and Palestinian terror groups Hamas and
Hezbollah…
Intelligence chiefs have also warned that Mr Corbyn will receive only
'restricted access' to intelligence because of his links to radical terror
groups.
So the Military is threatening to overthrow the government
elected by the people using any means “fair or foul” if there are any policy
decisions that would cut any funding for the military.
The EU vampires have drained the peoples of the member
countries for years, and how have the citizens benefitted? From TheGuardian:
Excerpt:
Scandal of Europe's 11m empty homes
Housing campaigners denounce
'shocking waste' of homes lying empty while millions cry out for shelter
More than 11m homes lie empty across Europe – enough to house all of
the continent's homeless twice over – according to figures collated by the
Guardian from across the EU.
In Spain more than 3.4m homes lie vacant, in excess of 2m homes are empty in each of France and Italy, 1.8m in
Germany and more than 700,000 in the UK.
There are also a large numbers of vacant homes in Ireland,
Greece, Portugal and several other countries, according to information
collated by the Guardian.
Many of the homes are in vast holiday resorts built in the feverish
housing boom in the run up to the 2007-08 financial crisis – and have never been occupied.
On top of the 11m empty homes –
many of which were bought as investments by people who never intended to live
in them – hundreds of thousands of half-built
homes have been bulldozed in an attempt to shore up the prices of existing
properties.
Housing campaigners said the "incredible number" of homes
lying empty while millions of poor people were crying out for shelter was a
"shocking waste"…
THERE ARE 4.1 MILLION HOMELESS ACROSS EUROPE, ACCORDING TO THE EUROPEAN
UNION.
So, Krugman thinks the EU is a Roach Motel, others believe
it is an American Horror Story Hotel California whereas Jeff Thomas at SprottMoney thinks it’s a nightmarish circus Midway:
Excerpt:
A Look At The Coming Collapse Of The European Union
When I was a boy, a carnival would
come through town annually, with a Ferris wheel, a merry-go-round and, of
course, a midway: rows of makeshift stalls where fair-goers might win a prize
by throwing a ball at weighted milk bottles, shooting a rifle at metal ducks,
or pitching pennies at small glass bowls.
If you were to succeed in any of
the above, the standard prize was a small stuffed bear…
I was one of the lucky ones. I
actually did take home a prize on one occasion. I had been going to the fair
faithfully every year and would save up my pennies for weeks in advance, so I’d
have plenty to invest in bear futures on the midway.
It was only a day or two after I brought home my prize that I realized
that I had spent several dollars in pennies winning a stuffed bear that
probably (back then, in the 1950’s) only cost fifty cents to produce and, after
I possessed it, actually had zero value to me…I had no use for a cheap stuffed bear.
So, here’s the penny-pitch
progression:
Promise of significant benefits for
what seems a minimal initial investment….
Realisation
that the aggregate cost of the prize was so high that the money would have been
better spent on something else.
In 1993, Europeans were invited to the new European Union Carnival. In addition
to the rides, there would be a midway: a
variety of benefits such as open borders, a common currency and the opportunity
to work in other countries more easily than before.
Most European countries joined,
even though, in most cases, only a
minority of registered voters actually declared their desire for membership.
The midway organisers (the political
leaders) were all in favour and virtually everyone joined.
Like any midway game, all those who
signed on were required to pony up, but the
amount of money being invested seemed relatively small at the time. But
like any midway game, it’s not the first
pitch of the penny that gets you…it’s the subsequent, seemingly unending ones.
It adds up.
Still, there have been those who
have actually benefitted: those who actually moved to another EU country and
got a good job; those who conduct multi-national business, etc., but, in the
main, the conveniences have not been that great and the negatives, more and more, are eclipsing the benefits.
The
non-elected oligarchy of the European Union passes new laws at will.
Moreover, at this point, so much money
has been thrown at non-productive members that entire countries are, in effect,
welfare states, living off the teat of the more productive countries.
I wonder who the welfare states are, living off the teat of
the more productive countries that Jeff Thomas speaks of. Certainly not Portugal or Greece. Seems to me the vampires of the EU and the
One Percent that control the wealth are living off the emaciated teats of
Portugal and Greece as well as all the other member states.
And then there’s Ukraine, who rejected the “coveted
membership” into the EU and IMF. For
Ukraine, their membership offer was enforced by the CIA and NATO. It was an offer at the tip of a sword, an acceptance
was forced by the barrel of a gun. Ukraine’s elected government was overthrown
and a government of billionaires was put in place to accommodate the One Percent. The EU/IMF vampires are quite pleased with
the new “Ukrainian guests” at the Hotel California. From News United:
Excerpt:
IMF CHIEF PLEASED WITH ECONOMIC PROGRESS IN UKRAINE
Kiev, Ukraine (AP) — International
Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde has told Ukraine's president that she was
impressed with the progress his government has made toward stabilizing the
Ukrainian economy. Lagarde was in Kiev before a visit by an IMF mission to
assess whether Ukraine has met the necessary conditions to receive the third
installment of a four-year $17.5 billion loan...
Welcome to the Hotel California, Ukraine. And just what were the conditions that the billionaire
Poroshenko met in order to secure an IMF loan?
What conditions are the people of Ukraine living under that has so
pleased Christine Legarde? From WorldSocialist Web Site:
Excerpt:
Social crisis dominates municipal elections in Ukraine
The first round of municipal
elections in Ukraine, held one week ago, shed light on the catastrophic social
and political conditions in the country. Nearly 21 months after the coup that overthrew President Viktor
Yanukovych, followed by the signing of
an association agreement with the European Union (EU), the country is in
social and economic free-fall. Clans of oligarchs continue to exercise a
stranglehold on the country based on bribery and corruption.
Although some 6,000 Ukrainians have been killed in the civil war launched by the Western-backed Kiev regime,
headed since May of 2014 by the oligarch Petro Poroshenko, this was not the
dominant issue in the election. What predominated was growing social discontent
throughout Ukraine.
The elections for mayors, city councils and regional legislatures were characterised by mass
voter abstention and accusations of fraud. In several cities in eastern
Ukraine, such as Mariupol, the election
was cancelled at the last minute. In areas controlled by pro-Russian separatists,
such as Donetsk, no vote took place.
Election turnout was only 46 percent…
Broad sections of the population in both parts of the country have been driven into dire poverty by the
civil war and the ruthless policies of
the oligarchic clans. The near-collapse of the economy and decline of the
country’s currency, the hryvnya, have impoverished wide layers of the
population. Many people can no longer
afford to purchase bread and lack the money needed to pay for daily tram
transport. “Poverty is eating into the
middle class,” the German daily Die Zeit reported at the beginning of the
year.
Ukraine’s economy shrank by over 7
percent last year, and this year the decline is expected to approach 12
percent. Inflation is running at 50
percent. In the first six months of 2015, real wages dropped by a quarter. “THIS IS THE RESULT OF THE REFORMS
IMPLEMENTED BY THE GOVERNMENT IN EXCHANGE FOR LOANS FROM THE WEST,” the
Frankfurter Rundschau wrote.
The minimum wage in Ukraine is now less than that of Ghana and Zambia.
Ukraine’s gross domestic product is half that of the European Union’s poorest country, Bulgaria.
Welcome to American Horror Story Hotel California, we’re so
happy to have you.
By Patricia Baeten
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